Becca’s card design “Links” (her company is Max and BunNY) made the cover of Stationery Trends Magazine, winter issue. Stationery Trends is the industry’s resource for greeting cards, gifts and all things stationery. Stationery Trends magazine seeks to guide stationery retailers in their quest to offer the latest designs and trends to their customers- including everything from stationery and greeting cards to gifts. The design-focused trade magazine provides retailers with a peek at some of the industry’s hottest designers and most sought-after products. Stationery Trends reports on upcoming trends before they hit the mainstream, ensuring its audience of diverse retailers is always ahead of the curve.
New York in December
New York is an incredible city at any time, but in December it is truly magical. NYC reeks of Christmas from Rockefeller Center with the tree and ice skating, to the fantastic and whimsical store windows. There is the shopping with additional Holiday Shopping Fairs set up around the city; Bryant Park, Union Square, Grand Central, the Cathedral and Columbus Circle. In a city already packed with people and activities, in December there is even more to see and do. Companies are spreading goodwill by handing out free samples on street corners; like Federal Express handing out hot chocolate and purple Santa hats. Even the street vendors become festive with chestnuts roasting on the vendors carts in addition to the usual pretzels and hotdogs.
We enjoyed the shopping at the Holiday Shopping Fair at Columbus Circle. We found some great gifts:

One of the little shops in Columbus Circle was selling a huge variety of teas, creating a fun "tea"scape and interesting smell.
This ribbon store almost boggled the imagination with its thousands and thousands of ribbons….
Everything in New York is to the max…even to santas on the subway….
But I think my favorite thing to do is to view the store windows in New York in December. Let me share a couple: Bergdorf Goodman is on 5th Avenue and south of Central Park. The holiday window displays at Bergdorf Goodman reflect the sophisticated signature design of the store. These windows feature not only high-fashion, but also authentic antiques and creative design. This year each window was a monochromatic color and were intricate and beautiful. The theme for 2011, was “Carnival of the Animals” and was woven through each of the windows. I was particularly fascinated by the texture created in one window by layering fishing lures…amazing.
Closeup of the fishing lures…neat texture huh!
Harry Winston’s:
Tiffany’s and it’s jewels:
Lord and Taylor was charming with its “Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus” windows:
And then there is MACY’s where it is Miracle on 34th Street! Macy is home to some of New York City’s most famous holiday window displays. Every year, Macy’s features two series of window displays–one set depicting scenes from the classic Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street and a second set that is new each year. This year Macy’s teamed up with “Make A Wish” and created inpsired windows. Visitors could even design their own ornaments.
Rockefeller Center is a must at Christmas. The tree has been a tradition for 75 years. It is a world-wide symbol of the holidays in New York City. It is a Norway Spruce and is illuminated by 30,000 lights on 5 miles of wire.
Then there are the restaurants. Becca recommended a burger place called “5 Napkin Burger” on 35th street in New York. Absolutely delicious!!! (And I am not a burger person.) I definitely recommend this restaurant if you are in New York.
We also had pizza at Lombardi’s in Soho (on Spring Street). It is also one of our favorite pizza places in NYC. It is brick oven thin crusted great pizza. We met up with my niece Courtney and her friend Katy.
We also spent a fun afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art. They had an exhibit on de Kooning: A Retrospective, which we enjoyed. This is the first major museum exhibition devoted to the full scope of the career of Willem de Kooning, widely considered to be among the most important and prolific artists of the 20th century. Nearly 200 works were brought together from public and private collections.
New York Marathon!
I left Chicago and traveled to New York. Becca and her husband Carl were running the New York Marathon and I wanted to be their cheering squad. I arrived Saturday and the race was Sunday morning. They had to leave very early in the morning to get to the starting point on Staten Island. The Marathon winds its way through all five boroughs of New York and finishes in Central Park. It turned out to be a beautiful day. I took the A train down from Becca’s apartment, transferred at 125th to the local and got off at 96th street and made my way across Central Park. I came out in the area of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was about mile 24 of the marathon.
I decided however that I wanted to be on 5th Avenue earlier in the course where it is a long continual upgrade for the runners so I made my way up the course and positioned myself about mile 23 (93rd and 5th avenue) and stood to watch for Becca. I got to see her and cheer her on….(I forgot to take a picture and I forgot to hold up my sign). With so many runners it takes a lot of concentration just to watch all the runners go by. I walked up to 96th street where my niece Courtney joined us where we watched intently for Carl to go by, and we got to cheer him. Becca had finished by this time so we made our way to our appointed meeting spot by the museum of Natural History. Our Marathoners had completed their challenge in fine style!! (Becca ran it in about 3 1/2 hours and Carl took about one hour longer, but they both finished the race!)
I wanted a picture with my sign, since I had forgotten to hold it up for my runners. I had to watch too intently for them, and then all I could do was to scream Go Becca go! (or Go Carl go!)
My beautiful niece Courtney. She joined me on 5th avenue to cheer the marathoners.
Wow to Becca and Max and BunNY! Congratulations!!
Check out this email I received from Bec:
I just wanted to say thanks again to all who voted. If you have a moment, check out this link and more importantly notice who’s slid into the list of top ten voted designs :)”
|
Minted: “this year we received 2251 entries. This year, we were awed by the quality and quantity of design submissions. We saw beauty in so many designs that it became an almost impossible task to pick just a few….Among thousands, here are the 10 top voted designs from our Sending Good Cheer Holiday Challenge. I couldn’t be more thrilled to say congratulations to you all.”
10th Place: “Happiest Homestyle” by Max and Bunny
So minimal and so chic, we just love “Happiest Homestyle.” From the perfectly sized greeting in the always playful Strangelove font to the darling sprigs of holly, this design says happy holidays with some serious style. We’re excited to see more from Rebecca Hardie of Max & Bunny.
Shout out to Becca Hardie and Max and BunNY!
Thought I would share two custom cards designed by my own New York designer, Becca Hardie and the company Max and BunNY. The first is for a “slip and slide” summer birthday party and the second is for a “bounce house” birthday party. I love the cool, clean designs, so typically the style of Max and BunNY.